In which Sean solos yet again. HIRAETH -The End of the Journey-, Vol. 1 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – This does not end up being quite as depressing as the warning at the start might indicate, but the warning is appreciated, as this book starts with a young woman trying to kill herself, and her suicidal thoughts are present throughout the volume. She meets a god who is dying, and is taking a tour of Japan (and being a bit of a brat about it), as well as a man who CAN’T die, and on their journey we get a lot of different perspectives. That said, as always with this author, if you’re only here to look at the lush, gorgeous art, you will not...
May 26, 2022 • Subscribe
More like this
Bookshelf Briefs 3/25/22
Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You, Vol. 2 | By Haruka Mitsui | Kodansah Comics (digital only) – For the most part Anyway, I’m Falling in Love…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/4/22
Minami Nanami Wants to Shine, Vol. 1 | By Bana Yoshida and Yuki Yaku | Yen Press – For most of the volume, this feels like a typical…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/22
Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – The blurb for Box of Light promises a “delightfully creepy supernatural tale” that takes place…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/25/20
Caste Heaven, Vol. 1 | By Chise Ogawa | SuBLime – I have to wonder why I read this. The warning signs are right there on the back…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/25/20
Again!!, Vol. 12 | By Mitsurou Kubo | Kodansha Comics – For better or worse, Again!! has always been unpredictable. I appreciate that it didn’t always follow the…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/25/20
DAYS, Vol. 16 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Usually with sports manga I can find some emotional beat to highlight, but this volume…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/25/23
A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 17 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa | Seven Seas – After briefly wrapping up the previous arc (and, sure enough, glossing…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/4/22
Falling Drowning, Vol. 1 | By Yuko Inari | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – On the surface, Falling Drowning looks like cookie-cutter shoujo. Our protagonist, a high school…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/10/22
Boys of the Dead | By Tomita Douji | Kuma – Enticed by the cleverness of the “Zom-BL” portmanteau, I bought this volume without really knowing anything about…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/11/22
Boy Meets Maria | By PEYO | Seven Seas – Taiga is a high school student who falls in love at first sight with a fellow drama club…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/30/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 5 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – This is a series that is prepared to get pretty dark—some of…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/16/22
Blue Box, Vol. 1 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – Sports manga always sell well in Japan, and high school romantic comedies are also popular. So…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/29/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 3 | By murata | Yen Press – This volume takes us back to Takebe’s initial thought process: all her former gang friends have…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/23/22
Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – I’m not sure if this is meant to be a horror anthology with a minor…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/7/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – I never briefed the second and third volume of this series,…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/4/22
F | By Imai Arata | Glacier Bay Books – Japan’s triple disaster of 2011 has understandably influenced the creative output of the country’s artists, both directly and…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/27/22
D-Frag!, Vol. 16 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This new volume (by now the series is annual) involves a massive parody of “trapped in a…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/4/22
Artist | By Yeong-shin Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – Two years after Yeong-shin Ma’s critically acclaimed manhwa Moms was released in English comes a second major work,…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/22/20
Arifureta: I Heart Isekai, Vol. 3 | By Misaki Mori, based on the novel by Ryo Shirakome | Seven Seas – This is keeping up a fast pace,…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/20/22
Anti-Romance, Vol. 1 | By Shoko Hidaka | Seven Seas – I was a big fan of Shoko Hidaka’s series Blue Morning. She excels at depicting complicated relationships…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/15/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 1 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – I had initially assumed Blue Lock would be another heartwarming story about a…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/30/22
Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 5 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – I really like the fact that Sarasa is choosing the more difficult option. They’re doing auditions…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/9/22
Blissful Land, Vol. 1 | By Ichimon Izumi | Kodansha (digital only) – You can almost imagine the pitch for Blissful Land: “It’s like A Bride’s Story, only…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/21/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 1 | By murata | Yen Press – I’ve been enjoying the recent upswing in yuri manga starring actual adults and aimed at adults.…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/21
A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 12 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – I was surprised that this is the final volume. It wraps…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/22
Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 1 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas – Minato Asano is great at playing the trombone, but ostracization in junior high has rendered her…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 2 | By murata | Yen Press – The first volume in this series mostly focused on the grumpy-faced (and, let’s face it, grumpy…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/16/22
HIRAETH ~The End of the Journey~, Vol. 2 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – In the first volume, we met a girl who’s desperate…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/26/22
Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 16 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – This is definitely a volume that is heavier on the back half. We get the…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/6/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 2 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – Blue Lock really is a lot of fun, if you can get past…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 6 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – The plotline of this volume is a dungeon crawl of sorts, where…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/20/22
Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 11 | By Nanashi | Kodansha Manga – I haven’t actually briefed this for a long time. Since I did, in…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/6/22
Falling Drowning, Vol. 3 | By Yuko Inari | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It’s the final volume and, inevitably, Honatsu has begun to regain her memories. With…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/18/21
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 1 | By Shio Usui | Seven Seas – It’s always worth buying a new yuri volume that features two adults, and…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/4/21
Days on Fes, Vol. 1 | By Kanato Oka | Yen Press A manga about the joys of music festivals is something we’ve seen before, but usually it’s…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/21/23
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 4 | By murata | Yen Press - When two people who already know each other well decide—or are trying to decide—to be a…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/5/23
Asumi-chan Is Interested in Lesbian Brothels!, Vol. 1 | By Kuro Itsuki | Seven Seas – I wasn’t originally planning to read this at all, but several people…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/5/19
Anonymous Noise, Vol. 17 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – I had thought this would be a race to the finish, but honestly it’s feeling more…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/7/20
The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 12 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – As much as I continue to love this series overall, this particular volume had…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/19/20
After-School Bitchcraft, Vol. 1 | By Yu Shimizu and Kazuma Ichihara | Yen Press – Afterschool Boobcraft would be a better title for this supernatural romance about Ririki,…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/30/23
Blue Box, Vol. 4 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media - We finally tip the balance of this sports romance series back to romance in this volume,…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/5/21
Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 | By Keito Gaku | Kodansha Comics – This was well-acclaimed when it was first licensed, and it’s not hard to see…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/20
Dr. STONE, Vol. 11 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Balloons! Yes, Dr. STONE is taking it upon itself to do something it does…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/5/23
Ayashimon, Vol. 1 | By Yuji Kaku | VIZ - Ayashimon starts with a bang: we meet Maruo, a boy who’s so obsessed with shonen manga that he…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/14/23
Insomniacs After School, Vol. 1 | By Makoto Ojiro | Viz Media - The anime to this manga is currently airing this season, though I haven't watched it…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/16/21
Blood on the Tracks, Vol. 4 | By Shuzo Oshima | Vertical Comics – The first volume of Blood on the Tracks was suspenseful and shocking and I…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/14/23
The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 11 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) - The copious adulting continues in this volume to the point where it's…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/11/20
How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 1 | By Tamifull | Viz Media – This title has a lot of things going for it, once you get past the…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/10/23
Blue Box, Vol. 2 | By Kouji Miura | VIZ Media - Blue Box continues to strike a great balance between being a sports manga and being a…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/23
Blue Box, Vol. 2 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media - The combination of sports manga and romcom is the series' main strength, as we saw from…